Edith Picton-Turbervill
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Edith Picton-Turbervill OBE |
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Edith Picton-Turbervill
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| Member of Parliament for The Wrekin |
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In office 30 May 1929 – 26 October 1931 |
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| Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Thomas Oakley |
| Succeeded by | James Baldwin-Webb |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
13 June 1872 Fownhope, Herefordshire, England |
| Died | 31 August 1960 (aged 88) Cheltenham, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Occupation | Writer, social reformer and suffragist. |
Edith Picton-Turbervill OBE (13 June 1872 – 31 August 1960) was an English social reformer, writer and Labour Party politician. From 1929 to 1931 she served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for The Wrekin in Shropshire.
Edith Picton-Turbervill was born at Lower House, Fownhope, Herefordshire on 13 June 1872, the twin daughter of John Picton Warlow, then a captain in the Madras Staff Corps, and his wife Eleanor (née Temple) daughter of Sir Grenville Temple, Bt, of Stowe. She changed her name to Picton-Turbervill at the same time as her father, when in 1891 he inherited the Turbervill estate of Ewenny Priory in Glamorgan. The estate was over 3,000 acres and her father was a mine royalty owner and a Conservative; he was a JP and a member of the Penybont Rural District Council. Edith was educated at the Royal School, Bath. Both her family environment and her school encouraged her in the belief that life was essentially something active, preferably on the behalf of others; she was also deeply religious.
It was social and philanthropic work which drew her to the labour movement, leading her to conclude that 'fundamental changes in law were necessary to obtain better conditions of life for the people'. She grew up in a family which was aristocratically connected, although not particularly affluent until she was grown up.
Her first experience of social work was among navvies working on the building of the Vale of Glamorgan Railway, near her home. They were living in squalid conditions, isolated from the local community, and Edith attempted their moral improvement through religion and the provision of a reading room. At this time her interests were mainly in evangelical work, and she attended a training school for missionaries in London as a preparation for missionary work in the East. Part of the course consisted of slum visiting, which brought her into contact with the slums of Shoreditch and the evils of sweated labour.
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